You have not released anything since Honeymoon in 2015? How do you know or or do you feel you’re ready for a new album?
My problem isn’t starting, it’s stopping. Even when you’re supposed to have finished the album, I keep on going, I always want to add a song, then another. If there was no mixing to grab me at the end of the album, I would continue to write. For example, two songs from the new album were composed while we were finalising the previous one.

I can’t help but work. I love being in the studio. I feel at home. I’ve been using the same location in Los Angeles for five years, working with the same small team, including producer Rick Nowels. We spend our lives here.

Do you ever feel stressed about starting blank?
It was a fear that overwhelmed me before I started recording real records. It was very present at that time before I was successful, when I recorded for simple pleasure, when I wrote alone in my house. I was convinced that the inspiration was going to let go and it happened regularly. I was unable to compose for six months sometimes.

But for ten years, I find inspiration easily – or it finds it. I learned to stimulate it. Notably by refusing loneliness, going out with friends, observing what happens, without stress. I use my phone without stopping in dictaphone mode, and I record notes of melodies, phrases… it’s a little scary, I must have seven hundred drafts of songs on my phone.

I know from experience that if I hear a melody in my head, I have to run to my phone to record it, even in the middle of the night. A good melody never knocks twice at your door. If you don’t welcome it, it will go and ring at another door. For example, during Honeymoon, I reguarly heard a melody in my head, which tortured me and I couldn’t catch it. It sounded like Resnaissance music… I had to hum this melody for months to tame it. It become Terrance Loves You. [She sings along]

As a teenager, you had a reputation of a daredevil? How is it expressed today?
My challenges are no longer physical, I take risks elsewhere. At the age of 18, I drove like a crazy person, I went for days and nights without sleeping. I was more free, more spontaneous and I cared little about the consequences. I have more responsibilities today, towards my relatives, my partners… I am obliged to set an example, to arrive on time, on the right day. In the past, I had enough work with myself, just to keep me alive, before I could find the time to take care of others. Where I take risks in 2017, it is at the level of melodies, of my musical choices. But I’m a bit of a daredevil to nerd [laughs]…

Lana Del Rey is on the cover of V MAGAZINE, which will be out from July 6. The featured interview is in conversation with Stevie Nicks (Fleetwood Mac), who also features on one of Lana’s songs from her upcoming album!

The photoshoot was shot by Steven Klein, who also did Lana’s last V cover, and the styling by Robbie Spencer. Lana spent a sunny afternoon on horseback for this absolutely stunning shoot! You can see the photos in the gallery below or Lana in action during this behind the scenes video that features a preview of the song “Cherry.”

In the interview, Lana reveals her favourite song from Lust For Life is “Yosemite” and shares some of the lyrics! She also confirms some more song titles that will be on the album.

A preview of the interview is below, but you can click here to read the full interview on V Mag’s website.

SN So, let us start here on your new record. But let us first touch on the fact that your first record was called Born to Die. Now this [record] is Lust for Life. In between that, what is it that affected you enough to go from Born to Die to Lust for Life? Because Born to Die is pretty dark and Lust for Life is pretty light. If you have a lust for life, that’s a pretty strong statement.

LDR Yeah, they’re complete opposites, and it’s funny because when I chose the title, I didn’t think about it right away. It was the title of the first song I wrote for this record. But there are so many things that have gotten me to the point that I’m at now. One of them is just time. And because I do write everything myself, I just wanted to chronicle how I was feeling honestly, in the moment, for each record. So, I had a lot of stories that I wanted to tell that I hadn’t told yet up until this point. And now, through the last four records, I got out a lot of those stories and a lot of those feelings, and for the first time, I’ve caught myself up to real time. And now, I’m at this place where I feel like I’m really present, and when I’m reading the news, I’m really reading it, whereas before I was a little bit in my own head. So, there’s definitely been a feeling of freedom and lightness being in the present moment. That brings on that lust for life feeling, when you don’t have all of those feelings about the past weighing you down. I remember an interview that you did once where you said, “Around every corner there’s an adventure waiting to happen,” and I’m kind of in that zone right now. I just feel like whatever each day brings me is something that I need and I want. It’s just time. Time has brought me here.

Note that the interview on their website is shortened for such, and you can read the full uncut interview in the magazine on newsstands from July 6. Better yet, pre-order your copy online here.

Stephen Gan, editor of V Magazine, says “they both have this romantic quality, and they are both ethereal and fairy-like” of Lana Del Rey and Stevie Nicks.

He adds “their music is similar in the way that it is sort of a slow burn.”

Lana is on top of Steven Klein’s own horse in the photos and, according to Gan, the idea behind the shoot was to capture the “nostalgic quality” of Lana, but in a “non-cheesy way.”

Lana Del Rey spent the day of her 32nd birthday in Disneyland! The following night, June 22, Lana had a birthday party at 1 OAK Nightclub in Los Angeles where her friends and family joined her for one big celebration!

Be sure to check out Lana and Chuck’s social media (Instagram & Snapchat stories) for footage from the night.